Latch construction



Ap1 ii 28, 1959 H. J. LANDRY LATCH CONSTRUCTION Filed April 11, 1956 ll'llyl l I 7 NVENTOR HENRY J. LANDRY 7mfiq v ATTORNEY United StatesPatent LATCH CONSTRUCTION Henry J. Landry, Ashburnham, Mass.

Application April 11', 1956,- Serial No, 577,510

8 Claims. (Cl. 16-444) This invention relates to a new and improvedlatch. construction particularly adapted for latching, together in.aligned condition the folding side walls. of a folding playpen or thelike; said walls when. unlatched. being. capable of pivoting intoside-by-side relationship. for folding the playpen, and when extended,these walls are automatically latched in aligned position. for use ofthe playpen- I Objects. of the invention include the. provision. of. avlatch of the class. described comprising, a pair. of articu" latedhinge. members, each of which is. secured to a portion. of an.articulated wall member adapted for pivoting. into: side-by-side orextended. aligned condition. with re.- spect to each other, one hinge.member being, provided with. a cam. nose extending therefrom into therange of the. other member and. the. latter being; provided with meansfor. automatically latching; the.- same when. the sections 015 the wallare. pivoted. into thealigned extended. condition thereof- Furtherobjects of. the invention include theprovision of. an. automatic latchas above described including extremely easily operated. means. forreleasing both latches, there being one at the break. of. each folding,sidev wall, said means comprising. an extension. upon. one. of the hingemembers. of. each latch, said extensions each. being in. position. tobe. operated by a. single finger. of. the operator merely by pressingupon the same in, a direction. toward the operator, whereby the handsof' the operator are. normally and naturally in a position for swinging;in the in-swinging articulated side walls of the playpentosi'd'e-hy-side relationship as above described; and the provision of anovel latch having a construction to allowpositioning. of uprightspindles for the side walls closely adjacent the hinge members.

Other objects and advantages of. the invention will ap pear hereinafter.

Reference. is to be had to the accompanying; drawings inwhich Fig. 1 isa plan view of a play-yard to which the present: invention is applied toillustrate the positions. of the latches;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged diagrammatic view illustrating the operation ofthe device;

Fig; 3" is a view in side elevation, looking in the direction of. arrow3 in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged section on line 4-4 of Fig. 5;;

Fig; 5 is. an enlarged section on line. 5-5 ofFig, 4;.

Fig; 6 is a section on line 66 of" Fig. 51;.

Fig; 7 is a perspective view of one of theiparts. of the: latch; 4

Fig; Sis a. sectional view' illustrating the operation of the latch; and

Fig. 9' shows. the latch with the side walls folded.

' Although the present latch. is shown as applied. to a play-yard asillustrated in. Fig. 1 herein, this latch may of course. be. used in.any relationship. where. it is. found desirable or convenient withoutdeparting from. the, scope of. the present invention. In Fig 1,. thereis "ice 2 shown a plan view of a play-yard which has a rigid front wall10, a rigid rear wall. 12, and a pair of in.-' swinging side walls madeupof articulated parts, the top rails of which are indicated at. 14' and16 on the one hand and 18 and 20 on the other hand. These-parts arearticulated by means. of the. latch to be described. and forming av partof the invention in thepresent case and they are also pivoted as byhinges generally indi cated. by the reference numeral. 22 to therespective ends: of the front and. rear walls as is. well. known. in.the art.

The. floor of. the playpen is illustrated at 24- and 26",. the fioorpart 26 having a free edge and the floor 24: being. hinged at itsopposite edge to the front. wall. 10- at the lower portion thereof.There: is. a: lever on the likev 28 which may be utilized to: extend.and. retract. the floor and this may be: constructed as furtherdescribed in my copending application. Serial: No. 577,515,. filed-April 1.1,v 1956 The above description is. merely to illustrate. the useand operation: of. the. present invention which. comprises in. generala. pair of hinge leaves 30' and 32- joined by at: pintle 34-. received.in. ferrules 36, the; latter being. oiiset from the plane: of the hingeleaves as shown in Figs. 2 and 9 to provide for accommodation of partsoh the device when in the folded condition. of the. side wall members 18and 20 and 14 and. 16.

The. latch described isshown as applied to thfi31fte hand. members 18and 20 of the play-yard. but the; op posite latch which is generallyindicatedat 38 inv Fig. l. is exactly the same merely being turnedup-side down. in. orderv to provide. for a right-hand and left handi operated latch for the convenience of the operator folding; the playpen.

The hinge leaf 30 is secured as by conventional fasteners 40 to. the.member 18 of the play-yard, this being the upper rail. thereof as willbe understood bythose skilled in the art. This. upper; rail member 18 isprovided with an inwardly-extending slot best. seen in Fig; 4 andindicated at. 42. Extending into this slot is a latching plate 44 whichis made integral with. hinge leaf 30 or is secured thereto as bywelding. or peening. as; indicated at 46. In. any event, the. latchingplate 44 is normal to the. hinge leaf- 30 and it. extends beyond. thepintle. 34- as clearly shown. in Figs. 4- and 8 for entry into atransverse slot. 46 which is provided in the end of. the sidewallmember. 20 centrally thereof.

The hinge leaf 32- is' secured to the member 20 by similar fasteners 48and. this hinge leafcovers the slot. 46 at one side. of the member 20.as: the hinge leaf. 30* covers the. slot 42. Slot 42, however, need.not. extend.- all. the way through member 18 but the slot. 46 does soextend- Upon the outer face ofihinge leaf. 32, there is fixedly mounteda block generally indicated at 50,, see particularly Fig. 7. This blockis undercut at its edges at. 5 2 and also at its rear edge as at 56.The. block is' secured by any means such as rivets 58 extending. throughholes 60 into the hinge leaf. 32,. see Fig. 4. The. bloclc 50. isprovided with aspring or springs. which may be conveniently located in.holes 62 in the block. or other: wise and these springs are illustratedat 64 extending out-.- wardly from said holes toward the hinge pintle.S4.

A. metal housing generally indicated at. 66. is provided with. sides 68which are in-turned at.7 0 to underlie undercut. portions .52 and. 54and. this provides for a guided sliding action of thev housing 66relative to the block. 50.: Housing. 66 also has a forward wall bentdown. at 76 so: that. front block 50 is enclosed. and the spring 64beats upon the. inner surface of wall 76, thus normally butyield inglyholding the entire housing to the leftin Figs. 3 and; 4",. whereintheterminal portion74- of rear; wall. 72 is firmly held-under theundercutportion. 56.

aeaaess The latching plate 44! extends to the right as seen in Fig. 4and it terminates in a laterally extending cam nose indicated at 78.This cam nose is projectible through a slot 77 in fringe leaf 32 andinto a slot 79 in block 50. This cam nose is provided with an inwardlyextending notch 80 and this is the latching notch which cooperates withthe inner terminal edge of the terminal portion 745 to latch the partstogether. The cam portion of the nose 78 is indicated at 82, seeparticularly Fig. 8.

Assuming that the parts are latched together as indicated in Figs. 1, 3and 4, the operator who stands adjacent the pedal 28 in front of thefront wall 10, merely bends over slightly and places the forefinger ofthe left hand upon the housing 66 at the left in Fig. l and theforefinger of the right hand on the housing 66 at the right hand in Fig.l, gently pulling these toward him. At the same time, the operator stepsupon the pedal 28 raising the floor parts 24 and 26 as shown in thecopending application above identified. Since the terminal portion 74has now been retracted from the notch 80, see Fig. 8, the hands are thenmoved toward each other folding in the side walls (see the arrows, Fig.l) behind the folding floor, the floor assuming a position in parallelfolded condition with respect to front wall 10. Continuing the motion ofthe two hands, the in-folding side walls are brought into overlappingfolded relation with respect to the folded floor parts.

Upon extending the playpen for use, the operator merely pushes the rearwall outwardly, and moves the swinging sidewalls at 16 and 20 oppositelyto the direction of the arrows in Fig. l. The floor then extends to ahorizontal condition and when the side walls members 18 and 20 and 14and 16 become aligned, the cam noses of the latches automaticallyretract the housings 66 as in dotted lines in Fig. 8, and the terminalportions 74 of housings 66 snap into the notches 80, whereupon the partsare fully automatically latched together.

This invention provides the easiest operated folding play-yard of anyconstruction and the easiest operated latching mechanism. Only a veryslight pressure of the fingers is required to unlatch the members andnothing on the part of the operator is required to be done at all inorder to latch them, except to unfold the pen. There is no mechanismunderneath the top rails of the side walls 14, 16 and 18 and 20 andthere is no mechanism at the inside of the play-yard at all, all of thelatching mechanism being at the outside aspects of the side wall membersas clearly shown. The operating mechanism is not in a position where itmay be accidentally actuated by the occupant of the play-yard; there isno fumbling about on the part of the operator to find the actuatingmember, i.e. housing 66, as is the case when the actuator is locatedunderneath the rail; and the latch itself is extremely easy to beoperated by anyone Without danger of pinching the fingers in any way,the actuation of the latches being extremely smooth and easy andpositioned in a novel manner relative to the folding side walls foroperation in a natural manner.

The construction is such as to allow the use of spindles 84 close to thehinge, and this cannot be done in prior art structures using automatichinges.

' Having thus described my invention and the advantages thereof, I donot wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, otherwise thanas set forth in the claims, but what I claim is:

1. An automatically latching hinge construction for a pair of membersarticulated by the hinge comprising a pair of interpivoted hingeelements each secured to a respective member, an extension on oneelement extending toward the other hinge element, the latter having aslot receiving the extension when the articulated members are aligned, amovable latch in the form of a closed housing on the other element,means on the extension causing retraction of the latch when theextension moves into said slot, means on the extension to latchinglyreceive the latch,

4 fixed means on a member movably mounting the latch= housing, thelatter being exposed and accessible for manual manipulation to releasethe extension, and a spring to spring-press the latch-housing, thespring being concealed in the latch housing, said fixed means alsomounting the spring.

2. An automatically latching hinge construction for a pair of membersarticulated by the hinge comprising a pair of interpivoted hingeelements each secured to a respective member, an extension on oneelement extending toward the other hinge element, the latter having aslot receiving the extension when the articulated members are aligned, aslidable latch in the form of a closed housing on the other element, afixed abutment, a spring thereon, the spring and abutment being locatedin the housing, the spring urging the housing to latching condition,means on the extension causing retraction of the spring-pressed latchwhen the extension moves into said slot, means on the extension tolatchingly receive the latch, said extension being located at one sideof its hinge element and the spring-pressed latch being located at therespectively opposite side of the other hinge element, the

latch housing being located at said opposite side and re-' ceiving theextension therein.

3. An automatically latching hinge construction for a pair of membersarticulated by the hinge comprising a pair of interpivoted hingeelements each secured to a respective member, an extension on oneelement extending toward the other hinge element, the latter having aslo't receiving the extension when the articulated members are aligned,a slidable housing on the other element, said it to latching position,means on the extension causing retraction of the housing when theextension moves into said slot, and means on the extension to latch withthe housing, said extension being located at one side of its hingeelement and the housing being located at the respectively opposite sideof the other hinge element, a slot' extending through the articulatedmember upon which the said slotted hinge element is mounted, said slotscoincid housing, said extension being located at one side of its hingeelement and the housing being located at the re-' spectively oppositeside of the other hinge element, and means mounting the housing forsliding motion on the said slotted hinge element.

5. A latching hinge for a pair of members arranged for alignment orselective swinging motion by the hinge, said latching hinge comprising afirst hinge leaf secured to one member, a second hinge leaf secured tothe other member, a pivot hinging the leaves together, an extension,

on the first hinge leaf extending past the pivot to engage the secondhinge leaf in aligned condition of the members, the second hinge leafhaving a slot to receive a part of the extension, a latch associatedwith the slotted hinge leaf and a reception means therefor on theextension, said latch being manually retracted to release the extension,

the extension being located normal to the hinge leaves,

a manually slidable housing, the latch forming a part thereof, a mounton the second hinge leaf, a slot in the mount coincident with thefirst-named slot to receive the extension in latched condition, saidlatch being located in the housing, and the housing concealing thelatch, exten-' sion, and mount.

6. The latching hinge of claim 5 wherein the members housing forming alatch, a spring in the housing to urge are elongated, and there being anoffset on each leaf, said offsets being laterally located relative tothe members and containing the pivot.

7. The latching hinge of claim 5 wherein the extension lies partlywithin a member and extends outwardly thereof at its end.

8. An automatically latching hinge construction for a pair of membersarticulated by the hinge comprising a pair of interpivoted hingeelements each secured to a respective member, an extension on oneelement normal thereto and extending toward the other element when thearticulated members are aligned, a spring-pressed movable housingincluding a latch fixed thereto on the other hinge element, a cam on theextension causing retraction of the spring-pressed housing and latchwhen the extension moves to a position to engage the latch, theextension being provided with a slot adjacent said cam to receive aportion of the latch, said housingv forming means for digital operationof the latch to release the extension, a fixed mount for the housing onthe said other hinge element, said housing enclosing the mount andconcealing the same.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS646,347 Betty 1 Mar. 27, 1900 952,059 William Mar. 15, 1910 1,185,171Bofird May 30, 1916 1,456,886 Gober May 29, 1923 1,603,409 RickenbacherOct. 19, 1926 1,714,698 Stoll May 28, 1929

